pic: 2015, Year of swerves?

[jman4747]

If the only thing about FIRST that mattered was competition what then of GP? Why does the game change every year? What of the Chairman's award? None of those are necessary for competition. We are here primarily to learn and inspire not compete. The competition serves as a catalyst and goal not the primary focus of FIRST or FRC. That mentality of build a robot primarily to win and compete only hits part of the point. If I had the same opinion back in 2010 I wouldn't be here. I'd have said "wow that looks hard and not necessary therefore I will not do it" not "wow that looks hard, I should find a team somewhere." As a teenager I don't need to know what an FPGA is or the free speed of a CIM motor. Yet a while ago I decided to learn some interesting yet normally useless information for my day to day life. Why bother knowing how planetary gearboxes work? Yet it will be advantageous later in life as an engineer. Similarly: Swerve is advantageous from a learning perspective and competitively if done well. I don't need to know how, you don't need to know how but you will know that much more. Why did you join FRC to win a competition or to learn more about engineering, math, pizza, water games, and teamwork?